Turkish Airlines and Euroleague Basketball will continue their partnership and title-sponsorship agreement for seven more seasons through '20. Europe's premier basketball competition will be known as the Turkish Airlines Euroleague for an entire decade from the start of the original partnership in '10. During their first three years, Euroleague Basketball and Turkish Airlines built a collaboration whose innovations range from social media promotions to mass-market documentary film productions and live in-flight game broadcasts. Among the new features in the agreement is Turkish Airlines receiving partnership rights for Euroleague Basketball’s second competition, the Eurocup, for the duration of the contract (Euroleague Basketball).

Chinese mobile phone vendor ZTE announced that "it has entered a three-year partnership with NBA China, under which the manufacturer will act as NBA's smartphone partner in the Chinese market," according to the WANT CHINA TIMES. ZTE also announced "an endorsement deal with Houston Rockets' forward Chandler Parsons," reportedly worth $1M. But "why does the company want to spend so much money sponsoring the NBA?" Beijing-based Business Value Magazine said that ZTE "is at a critical juncture in its brand transformation." For a long time, "it has laid down a solid foundation in the B2B (business-to-business) market, but has not performed well in the B2C (business-to-customer) market and now wants to focus on the B2C and high-end markets beginning in 2013." The magazine further said that "the company chose the NBA because then it could target both the Chinese and U.S. markets, which it has marked as vital to operations." But "can this cooperation with the NBA help the company reach new heights?" The outlook "may not be as bright as anticipated" (WANT CHINA TIMES, 10/22).

Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo and Dorna WSBK Organization announced the renewal of the Superbike World Championship sponsorship agreement for the next three years (WSBK). ... Events and hospitality provider Zächel, which is a subsidiary of sports marketing agency SPORTFIVE, "has won the contract of Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen to provide hospitality at Bundesliga and Champions League home games for another three years." Zächel has been a partner of the club for 11 years (NEW BUSINESS, 10/21). ... Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt has extended its partnership with Coca-Cola for another three years. The soft-drink producer will continue to provide fans at home games at the Commerzbank Arena with its products until '16 (Eintracht Frankfurt). ... Iker Casillas of Real Madrid, Koke Resurrección of Atlético Madrid and Barcelona's Xavi Hernandez wore new adidas cleats with reflective elements for the first time during Champions League action on Tuesday and Wednesday. Parts of the new cleats will reflect light thanks to adidas' "Enlightened Pack" technology (EP, 10/22).